Even prior to their brush with hackers from China late last year Google had a policy of moving users on to Google products where possible. The incidents accelerated the process. The story quotes Google employees to the effect that Windows systems are distrusted by definition at the company.

Something feels exaggerated in the story to me. First, from all indications we have in published reports, the system compromised at Google wasn't just a Windows system, but a Windows XP system running Internet Explorer 6 and logged in as Administrator. In other words, it was a system on which no serious effort at security was made. Banning all Windows systems because of this is surely an irrational overreaction.

Google is a savvy enough company to know this, and also to know that Macs aren't, as the FT story claims, less vulnerable to hackers. In a targeted attack such as that which compromised Google, the Mac is at least as vulnerable. Google would secure themselves much more effectively and cheaply by using Windows 7 in a managed environment.